Nurse's Killer Gets 51 Years

Jerome Gregory Wright, who returned a Henrico County nurse's love for him by killing her, will serve 51 years in prison.

Wright, 45, offered little more than a simple apology as the family of Lora L. Barnes looked on in Henrico Circuit Court on Friday.

"This was a man who came across as a nice guy to her" initially, said Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Duncan P. Reid. "But like a lot of women who find themselves in an abusive situation, she didn't know how to call out for help."

Wright, a drifter with a long record of charges on assault and weapons violations, befriended Barnes, 44, a beloved nurse who worked double shifts at area nursing homes.

She was strangled March 20 in her small McGill Street home in eastern Henrico, which burned later that morning.

Family members said the brief relationship had been marked by episodes of violence and threats; they immediately labeled Barnes' death a murder when she inexplicably failed to escape the fire.

Wright was captured on film withdrawing $500 using Barnes' debit card; he eventually was charged and convicted of fraud and stealing the card, as well as murder and arson.

Medical evidence showed that Barnes had died before the fire that engulfed her 700-square foot home and before Wright withdrew cash from her account.

Wright argued that Barnes was still alive when he left her earlier in the morning.